Improvement in clasps



P. B. BROWN.

Clasp.

No. 202,924. Patented April 30, I878.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

F. BARTON BROWN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLASPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 202,924, dated April30, 1878 application filed February 4, 1878.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, F. BARTON BRo'wN, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Clasp, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part hereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan; Fig. 2, a bottom plan; Fig. 3, asection lengthwise, and Fig. 4 an end view, of a clasp embodying myinvention. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 show the three parts of the clasp.

The two jaws of the clasp are marked A A. Each jaw has ears 0 on itssides, arranged, as shown, so that the ears of one jaw may be hinged bythe hinge-pin b to the ears of the other jaw. Each jaw has also anopening across it, arranged, as shown, so that these openings will beopposite each other. These openings are an important feature of myinvention. They are of such a size and shape with relation to the sizeof the spring a that the spring can project laterally into them. One ofthe jaws is also provided with a loop, d, to receive the web to whichthe device 'is usually attached. The spring a is a short coil of wirehaving its ends a a extended, as shown, so that when in its placebetween the jaws the end a will bear against one of the jaws and the enda? against the other. The teeth upon the ends of the jaws intermesh, asshown in Fig. 4.

By the use of the openings above spoken of a comparatively large andstout spring can be used, when desired, without making my device clumsy,the openings being so arranged with relation to the springs that thecoils of the spring may project through the openings. The hinge-pin 1)serves as a very convenient means for holding the coil-spring a inplace.

My device is very simple and durable, easily applied, and holds verysecurely by reason of the intermeshed teeth. Moreover, a stout springcan be used without making the device clumsy, as the coils may projectthrough the openings in the jaws, as above described, and the tension ofthe spring is, owing to the length of wire in the coil and its extendedends, nearly as great when the jaws are closed as when they are opened.The spring, too, does not lose its elasticity.

What I claim as my invention is The improved device described, composedof the jaws A A, the hinge-pin b, and spiral spring a, with its extendedends a M, the jaws being connected together by the hingepin b passingthrough the ears 0, and also through the spiral spring, holding it inplace, each jaw having an opening in it to receive the upper and underportions of the spring, all substantially as above described.

F. BARTON BROWN.

Witnesses:

J. E. MAYNADIER, Gnonen 0. G. OoALn.

